


The Comb

by SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish



Series: Little Leaf [2]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Braids, Fluff, Other, bit of angst, just a bit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 05:08:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2839184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish/pseuds/SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So that is it! Hope you liked it. God, I hope you liked it... love you, Helen! Merry Christmas!!</p></blockquote>





	The Comb

“Ada?” Legolas pleaded quietly from the door. It was the 25th of December and for the first time it wasn't Thranduil coming home from a long trip or just some regular day, it was a bad day.

“Yes, Legolas?” Thranduil was mad at Legolas, but not really, he was scared for his son more than anything.

“I have come to say goodbye.” Legolas shifted uncomfortably and looked at his shoes. Thranduil was sitting across from him in a beautiful wooden chair, staring down at something in his hands, a comb, a pretty, old and simple comb.

“I have no wish to say goodbye to you. Especially when you leave without my permission, into battle, when you leave to risk your life without need.” He kept turning the comb around in his long fingers and staring at it.

“I could not wake up tomorrow morning in my bed knowing that I have ignored-” He was cut off by his father's strong, deep voice.

“And so you leave me to wake up on my bed knowing I have let my son go out into battle? That I, a king, could not stop my own spoiled, young son?” Thranduil was now looking at his son, his eyes like windows into his soul.

“Ada, I am deeply sorry if that is how you feel. I don't mean to disappoint you, but I don't mean to disappoint _her_.” His father seemed to have taken a blow. He stopped, his eyes wide.

“Then don't.” He answered after a few seconds. “When you were little, you used to call for me in the middle of the night because you couldn't sleep. I would read to you, tell you my own stories, I would sit there by your bed side humming for hours and you would still be staring at me with those wide eyes, and then one night you asked me to braid my hair. You fell asleep on top of me. It became my system every time you woke up and couldn't go back to sleep, I'd let you braid my hair. Do you remember that?” His voice cracked.

“Yes. You would never keep the braid, no matter how hard I tried it would be gone the second you'd put me on my bed, I remember waking up and seeing you leaving my room with no braids.” Legolas said quietly with a half-hearted chuckle.

“Your mom-” Thranduil stopped and breathed a little before he kept going “Your mom asked me once if she could braid my hair. I said no so she kept asking because that was just who she was, until one day I said yes and she ran to grab her comb,” he rolled the fragile comb in his hands again, touching it delicately, “and she braided it, she said it looked beautiful so I would let her do it all of the time because I couldn't really say no to your mother. You were the only other person to ever ask me that, Little Leaf, and I could never say no to you either.” Legolas stopped looking at the ground and made eye contact with his father, “There is so much of her in you that I... I can't lose anymore of her, or you. But I could never say no to either of you, and I see that your request to go is based on good purposes and on your best values, I just don't want you to go.” He said at once and waited to see if Legolas understood.

For a second Legolas thought about nodding and leaving. The warmth in between him and his father had washed away with the years, but sometimes he got a glimpse of it. _Little Leaf_. He kneeled in front of his father's chair expecting a blessing to leave, but instead, he got a kiss on the top of his head.

“Go now, Little Leaf, may you return victorious and healthy, with a clear conscience.” And with that Legolas nodded and left, a little reluctant, but sure of what he had to do next.

Thranduil turned his attention back to the comb and its fragility, his hands caressed it and then he laid it on the table, getting up and staring out of the window where he knew Legolas would be visible, getting onto his horse and crossing the gates. “He is strong. You would be on his side.” He said quietly and then whispered under his breath, “Protect him.” to someone that he knew couldn't hear him. He grabbed the comb from the table and left the room.

**Author's Note:**

> So that is it! Hope you liked it. God, I hope you liked it... love you, Helen! Merry Christmas!!


End file.
